Warning: This post is brought to you by the letters T.M.I.
I was forced (yes, forced!) to use a public restroom the other day, and as I hovered over the toilet, I wondered when it was I first started to forego sitting down on the loo. I simply refuse to sit down on a public lavatory.
Not only that, but I’m deathly afraid of directly touching anything with my bare hands, so of course, I make sure I use a bit of tissue to not only flush the toilet with, but to open the toilet door too.
Am I the only person who’s this anal? (Pardon the pun)
MB (Leah)
October 26
1:19 pm
I used to be a squatter-over, but what a PITA to try and support myself over the toilet with one hand while I wiped. And then there was the dreaded back splash, which is magnified if you’re squatting over. Now I use a toilet seat cover or I cover the seat with toilet paper strips before sitting.
And I always flush with my foot unless it’s one of those little button thingys, which I hate.
Don’t even get me started on airplane toilets. They are the grossest.
I don’t mind touching the doors because I always wash my hands after and then open the outer door with a tissue or shirt sleeve. Besides all that, I have my little bottle of hand sanitizer and or some clorox wipes which I quite often use.
I’m am a bit on the OC side when it comes to washing/sanitizing my hands.
I know westerners bitch about squat toilets in Asia, but I love them. You don’t have to touch a damn thing.
Karen Scott
October 26
1:32 pm
I refuse to use airplane toilets. The flight back from Florida took 12 (unscheduled) hours, and I held my bladder till I got home.
Angelia Sparrow
October 26
3:13 pm
I can’t. I’m too creaky in a lot of ways to support myself in a squat.
Besides, if the seat’s not wet or gross, what’s the problem? I don’t understand germ paranoia. My immune system can handle almost anything.
I could just be jaded by having had to use men’s restrooms a great deal. When I was over-the-road, lot of places didn’t have women’s rooms, including a couple of my company’s terminals.
I always wash well and call it good.
Emmy
October 26
3:49 pm
Your butt is cleaner than your mouth or your hands. You’re more likely to catch something by shaking hands or using a public phone than by sitting on a toilet seat.
What’s nasty is people squatting over toilet seats and splashing pee all over.
I don’t want my butt where everyone else’s has been, and dislike public toilets for that reason, but I don’t worry about coming up with a disease or anything.
Jaq
October 26
5:24 pm
I squat for peeing, otherwise, I wipe down the seat with toilet paper, then layer the seat with paper and sit. I tend to make sure that I do my business at home in the mornings so I don’t have to sit anywhere during the day, if you know what I mean. And I think you do. Like MB I have my hand sanitizer, wet wipes and lotion in my bag at all times, and never open the door with my bare hands (having seen too many women left the toilet stall, check their makeup and fluff their hair, then left the bathroom. Without. Washing. Their. Hands! or the open the tap, whip their finger tips under the flow a couple of times then dry their hands. Yeah, no soap.
AztecLady
October 26
5:33 pm
Karen, while I understand your *euphemism alert* distaste *euphemism alert* for using airplane lavatories, it is really bad in the long run to hold urine in your bladder for long periods of time (trust me on this one)
I certainly prefer not sitting, but if there is paper or toilet covers, I’ll use them, then wash thoroughly. Oh and sanitizer works for body parts other than the hands too, you know 😀
Shreela
October 26
5:53 pm
I think women that squat over a toilet seat without lifting the seat are worse than men that don’t lift the seat.
Men don’t sit to pee, so they probably don’t have the experience of sitting in someone else’s pee. But most women have suffered through that, whether it was male or female pee. So that’s why I think it’s worse that women squatters don’t lift the seat — they probably complain if man forgets to lift the seat though.
I grab a few sheets of toilet paper to lift the seat, then squat. I don’t leave my pee behind for someone else to sit on.
Miki
October 26
6:46 pm
I’m with Angelia. I wash my hands thoroughly afterwards, so what’s the big deal?
Maybe it was growing up in a household with 2 adults and 5 kids…in a lot of ways, my home’s toilet was a public toilet!
My annoyance is saved for people who don’t wipe up the seat if they’ve made a mess, and those who don’t flush.
Barbara B.
October 26
6:59 pm
MB (Leah) said-
“And I always flush with my foot unless it’s one of those little button thingys, which I hate.”
I flush with my foot, too!
delta dupree
October 26
7:42 pm
NOT! I prefer not to use public places or other people’s homes. I’m so damn picky and [anal], I go a step further. I hoist every piece of clothing up (not to touch the floors), use my own tissues, foot to flush, and tissues out the door. Sanitizer after touching menus. I wish I could hose down a restaurant and all utensils, but who knows what’s been [mistakenly?] put in the food?
Teresa
October 26
9:29 pm
I’m like you too, BUT I DO wipe the seat if I sprinkle. I know logically the chances of catching something are astronomically low, but it still grosses me out. Diana Gabaldon had a hilarious (and scientifically enlightening) post about this on her blog recently called “Butt Cooties”. But even after reading all that science, I just can’t sit on a public toilet seat.
But, as I said, I DO make sure I don’t leave it in a mess – that bugs me no end.
Teresa
October 26
9:29 pm
Ooops – I think that was an inadvetent pun!!
Kaycee
October 26
9:34 pm
I can second the holding it too longing being a bad thing. I have done that since childhood and it took a
U T I from hell (I was in fact taken by amublance from my workplace because I had lost any/all pallor in my appearance. Due to the fact I had such a bad infection, it had invaded my bloodstream and my blood pressure became critically low) and I was advised to no longer “hold it.”
sallahdog
October 26
10:00 pm
I check out a bathroom and if its relatively clean, I use it… If its not, I find one that is… I am not too picky, but then I used to have to share the same damn porta potty with males who were not the neatest of folks..
Mary Winter
October 26
11:56 pm
Must confess, I’m with sallahdog. When you learn to squat behind a garage in the middle of nowhere because your dad/uncles were working on cars and there wasn’t running water available (and spending time with dad and my uncle working on those cars are some of my fondest childhood memories), and spend your teen years working in a barn shoveling stalls… let’s just say I’m bothered by very little. I wash. I pay attention to my surroundings. And yeah, not cleaning up after yourself is icky, but hey… you ever used the bathroom at Walmart?
Sam
October 27
12:03 am
I wipe the seat down with toilet paper, then sit. I hate the spray effect squatting causes. I also use my foot to flush whenever possible. Then I wash my hands, dry them and hold onto the paper towels to open any door I have to touch to get out of the bathroom.
Of course, it is easiest to not use public restrooms, but I guess after driving cross country a couple times a year, I’ve gotten used to it.
Sam
anny cook
October 27
12:04 am
Oh, yeah. Wal-Mart. Ugh. I’m old enough that I remember times before roadside rest areas… When I was growing up, you pulled over on the shoulder and found a convenient bush. So soap and water does wonders.
MB (Leah)
October 27
12:35 am
When I was younger I spent a year on the road camping out in back country and I got so used to doing my business outdoors that I preferred it. That stopped when one day I chose to do my business in the bushes right across the street from a public bathroom in a state park and stood up to find a park ranger standing there. LOL
Lucky for me, he just watched as I walked quietly to our truck and drove away.
anny cook
October 27
2:47 am
MB– Heh-heh. Oh, that’s funny. Holy cow, I can’t imagine!
JenB
October 27
4:27 am
I don’t hover. I sit. I also don’t bother to layer the seat with toilet paper or sanitary covers.
I wash my hands with soap after I use the restroom, and I’m not in a habit of rubbing my hands all over my bare ass cheeks (which are the only part of my body that make contact with toilet seats), so I figure I’m pretty safe.
Dawn
October 27
10:35 am
I always wipe the seat before I perch on one cheek. Then if I splash I’ll wipe the seat again. And I ALWAYS wash my hands after. I’ve taught my daughter to do the same. I also try to keep all my clothing from touching the floor. My daughter always takes her shoes off on flights and as airline toilets are so disgusting, the floors especially, I’ve always made sure that she puts her shoes on to go to the loo as well as putting a layer of paper around the seat.
Shiloh Walker
October 27
2:51 pm
Nope, I’m not that anal about a toilet. Toilet seats are non-porous, which means they aren’t a good breeding ground for the vast majority of germs. Unless it’s so funky that no woman in her right mind would use it, there’s not an issue.
You’re more likely to catch germs from the door knob in a public bathroom than the toilet seat.
One thing that drives me nuts about a public bathroom though is when women get pee on the seat and don’t bother to clean it up. Now THAT is gross.
JC Wilder
October 28
2:44 pm
When I was a kid mom trained me to layer the seat with toilet paper and flush with my feet. My knees are so bad that if I tried to flush with my foot now I’d probably end up on the floor with a leg in the toilet!
Anonymous
October 30
11:55 am
This is TMI. Way beyond TMI but this is my routine for using a public bathroom.
I go into the stall, flush the toilet with my foot. Layer two seat covers on the toilet. Hover. Wipe after pulling down the roll so I don’t get any tissue the person before me may have touched. Flush with my foot again. Make sure everything has gone down. Grab a paper towel and set it aside. Wash my hands, twice. Use the paper towel I set aside to turn off the water. Throw it away. Grab another paper towel and dry my hands. Throw that paper towel. Grab another one to open the door.
It’s weird but I’ve never gotten pee on a toilet seat and I have never used an airplane bathroom.